On a Mission to the heart of San Francisco

New eateries are occasionally spray-painted with the words “cafe gentrification,’’ explains Yaron Milgrom, a newcomer who co-owns Local Mission Eatery. As the new restaurant was setting up housekeeping, it got a thumbs up — no graffiti. “I fell in love with the neighborhood. I wanted to contribute something to the street,’’ says Milgrom, handing out corned-beef brisket sandwiches to tour participants. Partnering with Michelin-starred chef Jacob Des Voignes, Milgrom, who has a PhD in medieval Jewish mysticism, renovated space in a former butcher shop. On the tour, you can peer through the walk-in refrigerator’s Plexiglas window (we spotted a goat ready for cooking); or borrow the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook from the lending library. The hyper-local menu is accessible: $9 sandwich plates and layered dishes; the chef’s taco holds a surprisingly good combination of smoked potatoes, goat pibil, lacinato kale, and house-made queso fresco.

After scarfing up maple-bacon-apple doughnuts at Dynamo Donuts, Rogovin heads for La Victoria, a Latin bakery established in 1951. Second-generation owner Jaime Maldonado makes orejas (ear-shaped puff pastries) and ninos envueltos (“rolled-up babies,’’ or jellyrolls). These sweets have such a strong tradition in families, says Maldonado, that he’s not surprised to see someone buying four dozen at once. “One kid eats three a day,’’ says the baker. “I grew up that way.’’ Maldonado also runs a floating commissary kitchen, where guest chefs come to cook for community events and food-cart parties.

Along the way, you can see that the Mission’s murals tell a pageant of stories. Rose knows them all. She leads the way up Balmy Alley, interpreting murals about the golden age of Mexican cinema; about separation, as an El Salvadoran father leaves his wife and child to seek work; about AIDS, Hurricane Katrina, and the triumph of peace over violence imagined by young spray can artists.